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LINKEDIN · SDE 1

LinkedIn SDE 1 interview

The SDE 1 (entry-level software engineer) level at LinkedIn is Software Engineer (entry), for new grads and engineers with up to about 2 years of experience. The rounds at this level, how each one is scored, and the questions to practise first.

From public candidate reports and LinkedIn's careers pages, checked November 2026. Processes vary by team. AlgoRung is not affiliated with LinkedIn.

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LinkedIn titleSoftware Engineer (entry)
ExperienceNew grads and engineers with up to about 2 years of experience
Interviews after screeningAbout 3
System design roundUsually not

The SDE 1 rounds, in order

  1. Phone / recruiter screen · 30 min

    A recruiter call to confirm level and track (applications vs. infrastructure) and which skills the onsite will cover.

    At SDE 1: Usually one medium problem. Explain your idea before coding and test by hand at the end.

  2. Online assessment · 75 min

    Some entry-level pipelines start with a two-question online assessment.

    At SDE 1: The main filter for new grads and campus drives. Expect two medium problems, sometimes one hard. Passing all test cases on both usually gets you to the next round.

  3. Coding (DSA) · 60 min

    The technical phone screen has one or two DSA problems with a main interviewer and a shadow.

    At SDE 1: The largest part of the loop: often three coding rounds. Medium problems, sometimes one hard. Correct, clean code and clear reasoning matter more than speed.

  4. Coding (DSA) · 60 min

    A traditional onsite coding round, often with two interviewers, where code quality and testing count.

    At SDE 1: The largest part of the loop: often three coding rounds. Medium problems, sometimes one hard. Correct, clean code and clear reasoning matter more than speed.

  5. Hiring manager · 60 min

    A behavioral and culture round on ownership, influence, career growth and handling hard migrations.

    At SDE 1: Motivation, learning, a project walk-through and sometimes CS fundamentals.

  6. Hiring committee

    A committee decides hire and level, and team matching follows before the offer.

    At SDE 1: Mostly about whether the packet clears the bar; team match can take a few weeks.

What LinkedIn interviewers look for

Behavioral rounds are based on the Culture & values: We put members first, We trust and care about each other, We are open, honest and constructive, We act as One LinkedIn, We embody diversity, inclusion and belonging. Questions for each one.

Coding questions to practise for LinkedIn SDE 1

The largest part of the loop: often three coding rounds. Medium problems, sometimes one hard. Correct, clean code and clear reasoning matter more than speed.

Difficulty
Topic
9 questions
  1. Max Stack Hard Design Data Structures also Salesforce
  2. Merge Intervals Medium Intervals also Netflix, Atlassian, Oracle
  3. Word Ladder Hard Graphs also Google, Amazon
  4. Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree Hard Trees & BST also Amazon, Meta, Oracle
  5. Minimum Window Substring Hard Arrays & Hashing also Google, Meta, Oracle
  6. Kadane's Algorithm - Simple Medium Arrays & Hashing also Adobe
  7. Permutations Medium Recursion & Backtracking
  8. Longest Palindromic Subsequence Medium Dynamic Programming also Goldman Sachs
  9. Valid Word Abbreviation Easy Arrays & Hashing also Meta

How the coding round is scored · The online assessment

Design at SDE 1

Mid-level and senior candidates get one HLD round, usually product or feed style. Staff candidates get design-flavored coding plus deeper architecture discussion, and the technical communication round tests how much scope they owned.

All LinkedIn system design questions

Questions people ask

How many rounds are in the LinkedIn SDE 1 interview?

About 3 interviews after the screening: phone / recruiter screen, online assessment, coding (dsa), hiring manager, hiring committee.

Is there a system design round for LinkedIn SDE 1?

Usually not as a separate round. Mid-level and senior candidates get one HLD round, usually product or feed style. Staff candidates get design-flavored coding plus deeper architecture discussion, and the technical communication round tests how much scope they owned.

What coding questions does LinkedIn ask at SDE 1?

The same question pool is used across levels; the bar rises with level. Most reported: Max Stack, Merge Intervals, Word Ladder, Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree, Minimum Window Substring.

What does LinkedIn expect in coding rounds at SDE 1?

The largest part of the loop: often three coding rounds. Medium problems, sometimes one hard. Correct, clean code and clear reasoning matter more than speed.

SDE 1 interviews at other companies

SDE 1 interview questions across all companies · Behavioral questions